I’ve seen some bizarre and incomprehensible things from the religious right over the years. And yet, the religious right’s continued backing of Donald Trump even in the face of the “Access Hollywood” tapes was mind-blowing, even by those standards. How in the world could people who bleat and screet about traditional values all the time continue to back a guy who boasts that he could grab and grope women any time he wanted?
It’s only been recently that we’ve gotten an explanation that makes any kind of sense. Apparently people like Ralph Reed, Franklin Graham, Jim Bakker, and James Dobson were convinced that Trump was their best shot at turning this country permanently in a socially conservative direction–and therefore, anyone who stood against him was being driven by witchcraft and demons, and was therefore committing high treason against God himself. Well, another prominent fundie has taken that line–Pat Robertson.
On Wednesday’s edition of “The 700 Club,” the Virginia Beach Ayatollah went into what sounded like a standard right-wing tirade about the news media being out to get Trump. But then it took a far more sinister turn. People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch got a clip.
Robertson referred his audience to Psalm 2:2, which discussed what happened when “the kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and his anointed.” He claimed that’s exactly what is happening with the current opposition to Trump, which he denounced as nothing less than a revolt against “God’s plan for America.”
As Robertson sees it, “these other people” on the left and in the media are bent on destroying free enterprise and capitalism and erecting a system of “socialism” and “collectivism.” However, he believes that God has a yuuuge thumb on the scale in Trump’s favor.
“What we’re looking at is free markets and freedom from this terrible, overarching bureaucracy. And they want to fight as much as they can. But I think the good news is the Bible says, ‘He that sits in the heavens will laugh them to scorn.’ And I think that Trump’s got someone on his side that is a lot more powerful than the media.”
This sounds very familiar. Along similar lines, Bakker claimed in November that any county that voted for Hillary Clinton voted against the will of God. As someone who lives in one of those blue counties, that’s news to me. I thought I was voting against a guy who found it acceptable to plaster a private cell phone on social media, mock the disabled, degrade women, condone violence at his rallies, and blow anti-Semitic dog whistles. Oh, that’s right–because Trump made the right clucking noises about ending abortion and rolling back marriage equality, none of that matters.
So in light of this, Pat, I have a few questions about what “God’s plan for America” entails. Does it entail declaring outright war on the media if it doesn’t peddle Trump’s “alternative facts” without question? Does it entail calling any mildly critical coverage “fake news“? Does it entail bullying and intimidating the judiciary? Last I checked, opposing that doesn’t mean opposing God. It means opposing a manifestly unfit and manifestly incompetent president.
If Robertson thinks fatwas like this are going to make the rest of the nation join him in bowing before the Orange Calf, he is sadly mistaken. Here’s a news flash, Pat. Despite your attempts to warn us and try (and fail) to give us an explanation for why we should bow down to Trump, we will persist. We will resist. And when he does go down–either by way of losing his bid for reelection, a 25th Amendment solution, forced resignation, or impeachment and removal, we will ensure that you and your ilk go down with him.
(featured image courtesy The 700 Club’s Facebook)
